Fake eggs and other problems from China

[Richard D]

I personally try to not buy anything from China for a number of reasons. Here's yet more:

* * * * *

Cases of problem foods and food poisoning are widely reported in Mainland China over the last few years. In 2001, there were 185 cases of food poisoning, affecting about 15,715 people and causing 146 deaths ( 5 ). The cases doubled in 2002 ( 6 ). In 2003, the number of reported cases was ten times more than that in 2001, and the number of people suffered was as high as 29,660, including 262 deaths ( 7 ).

Although the Chinese government sought to tackle the problem ( 1 ), the situation has become worse than before. As there are countless cases of newly discovered problem food products and large scale of community food poisoning, it is time to explore how problem foods are manufactured and affect human health. What follows suggests that there are a variety of problem foods ranging from primary-food to processed-food products.

This article is the first in a series of case reports addressing various problem-food products in Mainland China as well as its possibly associated acute and chronic impacts on health after short- and long-term consumption. Through this series of case reports, it hopes to alert the international humanitarian, scientific and medical communities regarding such a serious matter and to throw light on possible solutions to the problem in China.

http://web.archive.org/web/20060428034330/http://www.ispub.com/ostia/index.php?xmlFilePath=journals/ijto/vol2n1/eggs.xml

[Atman]

1. Do people really assume China has ANY sort of work-place regulations?

I mean...other than "you'd better show up for your 23-hour shift or we'll dock you your 15-cent paycheck?"

I friend of mine works for a company that makes huge metal fabricating machinery. He's had to go on a couple of installs over there and he says the conditions are just mind-boggling. They spend millions of dollars on the machinery, then don't bother to follow any of the requirements to install the stuff correctly. This story kinda sums it up: he said these machines produce a lot of torque (I'm not an engineer, I'm pretty sure that's what he was calling it) when they're running, so they have to be anchored deep in concrete to keep them stable and minimize vibration. So, he goes to the installation to hook up the wiring, and they're mixing the concrete as if they're pouring small fence post footers...just scooping up dirt and sand off the ground and tossing it into the mix by the shovel-full. He said they've had to send crews back more than once to re-do things after the machines worked themselves right out of their foundations once they were cranked up.

Now, imagine how they handle the food processing equipment at some prison labor farm. Seriously. Chinese products should be avoided at all costs until the country makes some strides to enter the real world and submit to the rigorous inspections and high standards the Bush administration has forced on United States factories.

Oh, wait...scratch that last part.

.

[rwork]

2. We will soon be

eating a "Chinese Hershey bar".It seems so strange to be saying those words."Chinese Hershey bar".

[NewJeffCT]

4. They probably have strict laws, but

Enforcement is so sporadic, random and lax that most businesses tend to ignore them in order to make more money in the short-term.

And, I'm saying that they probably have strict laws on the books because every once in a while, a local county boss or somebody will have to make a show of enforcing these laws, so there will be a ton of news reports about the big crackdown in hopes that the news will spread to other counties/provinces and rein them in for a brief time. (or, another way it will be enforced is if the owner of a business pisses off the county or provincial boss/politician...) However, it is also a balancing act for each county/province. If you come down too hard on locla business, you risk losing the business to a province where the standards are not so strongly enforced.

The same with pirated movies/DVDs. They likely have strict laws on the books, but it's so rarely and randomly enforced that nobody bothers to follow the actual law.

[no_hypocrisy]

3. Don't trust the labels.

I heard this secondhand from one of my contractors.

An executive for a company which imports canned food from China has admitted that his company takes off the labels and replaces them with labels claiming the manufacturing was done in the U.S. Stuff like fruits and vegetables. Nothing blatant like "Green Giant" but still, you'd never know its origin.